was very much surprised
to see Court ladies doing this kind of work and I said to myself, if
I come here will I have to do this sort of thing? Although these boxes
appeared to be quite heavy, they brought them in very gracefully. Two
small tables were placed in front of Her Majesty, then they opened the
boxes and placed a number of very cute plates containing all sorts of
sweets, lotus flower seeds, dried and cooked with sugar, watermelon
seeds, walnuts cooked in different ways, and fruits of the season cut
and sliced. As these plates were being placed on the tables Her Majesty
said that she liked these dainties better than meat and gave us some and
told us to make ourselves at home. We thanked her for her kindness and
enjoyed them very much. I noticed that she ate quite a quantity from the
different plates and wondered how she would be able to eat her lunch.
When she had finished, two of the Court ladies came and took the plates
away and Her Majesty told us that she always gave what was left to the
Court ladies after she had finished eating.

After this a eunuch came in carrying a cup of tea. This tea cup was
made of pure white jade and the saucer and cover was of solid gold. Then
another eunuch came in carrying a silver tray on which were two jade
cups similar to the others, one containing honeysuckle flowers and the
other rose petals. He also brought a pair of gold chopsticks. They both
knelt on the floor in front of Her Majesty and held the trays up so
that she could reach them. She took the golden cover off of the cup
containing tea and took some of the honeysuckle flowers and placed
them in the tea. While she was doing this and sipping the tea, she was
telling how fond she was of flowers and what a delicate flavor they gave
to the tea. Then she said: "I will let you taste some of my tea and see
if you like it," and ordered one of the eunuchs to bring us some
tea, the same as she was drinking. When it came, she put some of the
honeysuckle flowers in the cup for us and watched us drink it. It was
the most delicious tea I had ever tasted and the putting of flowers in
it gave it an extremely delicate flavour.

CHAPTER FOUR--A LUNCHEON WITH THE EMPRESS

WHEN we had finished drinking tea, she told us to go with her into the
next room, where the tables had been prepared for lunch, and I wondered
if she had any room for lunch, after all that she had just eaten, but
I soon found out. As soon as she was inside the ro